Massachusetts teachers signal new direction — The Common App grows up — Randi Weingarten announces reelection run — Rolling back school lunch regs

Text Size

MASSACHUSETTS TEACHERS SIGNAL NEW DIRECTION: Barbara Madeloni, an outspoken opponent of the Common Core and high-stakes testing, won election this weekend as president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. Madeloni’s victory is the latest signal that local and state affiliates are growing restive with the national unions’ efforts to find common ground with education reformers — and want a more militant tack. Last month, an insurgent ticket won control of the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers, after painting the incumbent union leaders as too accommodating of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education reform platform. Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union passed a resolution slamming the Common Core. Over the weekend, the Seattle Education Association’s incumbent president narrowly beat back an unexpectedly strong challenge from a teacher who had led a much-publicized boycott of the standardized MAP tests last year.

— As she takes the helm of the 110,000-member MTA, Madeloni vows to call for a three-year moratorium on high-stakes testing, including a ban on using test results to evaluate schools and teachers. She promises a vigorous campaign to expose “corporate forces” behind the education reform movement and to seek ties with other unions “to develop a national strategy to resist the undoing of public education.”

— Madeloni’s position statement on Common Core calls it a “money grab for testing and curriculum development companies” that will narrow the curriculum and limit teachers’ academic freedom. She also opposes the concept of common national standards, writing that “our democracy must be about diversity and not standardization.”

RANDI SAYS YES TO REELECTION, COMMON CORE: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told Bloomberg EDU that she wants another turn at the helm of the union. “People assume that I'm running. I haven't actually said it yet,” Weingarten told host Jane Williams. “I think I just said it.” Weingarten has been president since 2008 and has survived several reelections already.

— Does she expect competition? “Absolutely,” Weingarten said, noting the AFT contingent who doesn’t believe the union should have ever supported the Common Core. Weingarten said Common Core “should be a guide not a straightjacket,” and the kindergarten through second grade standards need adjustment. But “at the end of the day we have to help all kids become problem solvers and critical thinkers. You don't get a job, a middle class job in the United States of America, if you don’t.” http://bit.ly/1mfNiIX.

THE COMMON APP GROWS UP: After a damaging setback during its relaunch last year, the Common Application needs to rebuild trust among member colleges, raise morale among staff, and rethink the way it serves and works with institutions. That’s what the organization's president-elect, Eric Furda, told a small group of reporters on Friday.

— At a minimum, hundreds of students missed application deadlines last fall because of system-crashing technical glitches stemming from the Common App's system August 2013 relaunch, which was supposed to make it easier to accommodate the service's 550 members. About 750,000 students submitted 3.5 million applications last year. Both the Common App and its competitor, the Universal Application, have grown since then. But Furda acknowledged changes need to be made: The organization will merge its executive and tech staff this year and consider alternative pricing and application format options to address what colleges have perceived as a "monopolistic tendency," he said. For example, colleges have to pay more to use the Common App if they also subscribe to other application systems.

— Furda and new interim CEO Paul Mott also want to explore ways to use the myriad data the Common App has compiled to help "level the playing field" of access in higher education. That could involve partnering with organizations like the College Board, Furda said. In the meantime, Common App staff are aiming for to meet a series of milestones in advance of the Aug. 1 release to ensure last year's glitches are truly a thing of the past.

— Do new troubles loom? CollegeNET sued Common Application, claiming it has violated federal antitrust laws. "Because Common Application has removed differentiation from the application form, it is easier for students to ‘press the button and pay’ as they file more and more forms," the complaint says, driving revenue for colleges: http://bit.ly/1jiAGep.

**A message from POWERJobs: Jobs on our radar this week: Reporter at The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Director of Strategy at United Way Worldwide, and Communications Director at Urban Libraries Council. Interested? Apply to these jobs and more at www.POWERJobs.com; finally, a career site made for YOU!**

ROLLING BACK SCHOOL LUNCH REGS: The House Republican effort to scale back school lunch reform is gaining momentum. The House appropriations subcommittee on agriculture is considering language for the fiscal 2015 spending bill that could halt key school nutrition regulation. Those regulations include increased whole grain requirements and competitive foods restrictions set to take effect in July. Nutrition advocates are concerned for the regulations and what they see as a growing pattern of partisanship and congressional intervention in school nutrition policy set by the Department of Agriculture. “This shift is really a big change in how the program has been dealt with in the past,” said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “I think the political wrangling that’s going on is really misguided.”

— The subcommittee is keeping quiet on what may be in the works this time around, but the staff of Rep. Rodney Davis confirmed appropriations staff are interested in addressing concerns raised by dozens of other lawmakers about the next round of regulations scheduled to take effect over the summer. He serves on the House Agriculture Committee, but not on the Appropriations Committee. “All we’ve ever asked is for flexibility for the schools,” said Davis. More from Pro Agriculture’s Helena Bottemiller Evich: http://politico.pro/1nyXFtr.

NAVIENT SETS ASIDE $103 MILLION TO SETTLE WITH FEDS: Navient, Sallie Mae's loan servicing arm spun off earlier this year, said it is increasing its reserve fund for regulatory matters by an additional $103 million, on top of $70 million already set aside, to address issues including informing service members of an interest-rate discount. Navient is setting aside $30 for refunds of late fees FDIC may require it to repay and another $42 million in voluntary restitution of other late fees: http://1.usa.gov/1mQNnRD. Last week, Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a Senate committee Sallie Mae could face losing its contract with the department over the probes: http://politico.pro/1olfQD0.

STATE OF PRE-K OUT THIS WEEK: Education Secretary Arne Duncan, National Institute for Early Education Research Director W. Steven Barnett and Claudia Sarmiento of Los Angeles Universal Preschool will discuss NIEER’s The State of Preschool 2013. The report ranks all 50 states and D.C., on funding, access to state-funded preschool and quality standards during the 2012-13 school year. The report, which goes public Tuesday, is the result of a new collaboration between NIEER, the National Center for Education Statistics and the Education Department.

— In a “first look” NCES released last week [http://1.usa.gov/1qimNH2], total enrollment in state-funded preschool fell slightly between the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years while funding from states increased slightly. The biggest spender was D.C., which spent $14,700 per child in 2012. Nine states spent less than $2,500 per child. More: http://politico.pro/1mNfvtk.

— In a blog post [http://bit.ly/1llbOHj], Fordham Institute President Chester Finn, Jr., questioned the validity and neutrality of NIEER data released in conjunction with the federal government. “If you’ve been living in a cave and don’t know what [NIEER] is, read their ‘vision statement’ [http://bit.ly/1qusFNh] and ask yourself whether this looks like a neutral source of factual data,” he writes. “Dig a little deeper and you learn that a year ago NCES entered into a sole-source contract with NIEER … Why were these data suddenly important for NCES? Because of ‘the President’s call to expand preschool education access.’” NIEER did not return a request for comment.

— The Education Department responded that public notice was provided about its intention to undertake the data collection and its content and it "did not receive comments suggesting the proposed collection or reporting approach was biased. The proposal to let this contract was also publicly advertised and no objections or concerns were raised to the sole-source contract. The data itself is objective and not subject to bias. Therefore, the after-the-fact complaint seems odd and not timely. ... Other options would have taken longer, cost more and likely produced lower response rates. The report went through extensive review at NCES, and we take full responsibility for all statements."

WHAT’S NEXT FOR TEACHER QUALITY? A decade of teacher quality reforms has led to progress, but the profession isn’t as attractive to potential teachers as it should be. A new paper from Bellwether Education Partners looks at the road ahead, outlining next steps and potential course corrections. For example, teacher evaluation systems should “complement metric-driven systems with true managerial discretion,” the report says. Professional development needs professionalizing and teacher preparation needs a makeover. “Policymakers should increase rigor and quality in teacher preparation but also end protectionism of traditional preparation programs and open preparation to greater competition,” the report says. More here: http://bit.ly/1iGP7xh

FEWER WAIVER WORRIES: States making big changes around the implementation of their teacher and principal evaluation systems need not worry about jeopardizing their waiver — yet. The Education Department said Friday it won’t factor in that work when deciding on waiver extensions: http://politico.pro/1qtI2Wn

— Oregon’s waiver was high-risk status because it wasn’t doing enough to tie student growth to teacher evaluations. But state administrators felt pretty confident about holding onto their waiver even before the change. “Every indication we have received from the Feds throughout this process was that our evaluation system would meet muster,” state education department spokeswoman Crystal Greene said. “We have been — and continue to be — confident that our proposal will be accepted.”

SYLLABUS

— For the first time, Texas will include English-language learners' performance in school grades. Dallas Morning News: http://bit.ly/1uTtqiN.

— West Virginia’s attorney general says school punished rape victim by moving her back a grade. The Raw Story: http://bit.ly/1mPCek7.

— The Jefferson County, Colo., community took to social media to protest hiring new superintendent from Douglas County. Chalkbeat Colorado: http://bit.ly/1sCM0cJ.

— Very little of what has worked for charter schools has found its way into regular classrooms. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1iEViNW.

LIVE TODAY, POLITICO’s newest series ALL POLICY IS LOCAL — with its first coverage area focusing on ENERGY. The series covers the 2014 midterms like no one else, examining the intersection of politics and policy and the impact on industry and community. See full coverage including the must-read piece by Andrew Restuccia reporting from Colorado on the closely watched Senate race and the fracking fight here: http://politi.co/1iH8vFK.

**A message from POWERJobs: Tap into the power of POWERJobs for the newest job opportunities in the Washington area from the area’s top employers, including METRO, Evolver, AARP, The CSS, National Propane Gas Association and Military Officers Association of America. Powered by names you trust — POLITICO, WTOP, WJLA/ABC-TV, NewsChannel 8 and Federal News Radio- POWERJOBS is the ultimate career site with more than 2 million job searches and nearly 17,000 applications submitted this year so far. Connect through Facebook or LinkedIn, search jobs by industry and set up job-specific email alerts using www.POWERJobs.com, the site for Washington’s top talent.**